Permitting for Monopod pipe replacement
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Hilcorp Alaska continues to receive state approvals for its Monopod pipeline replacement work.
On May 24, the Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas approved a miscellaneous land use permit allowing the company “to conduct temporary activities in support of pipeline maintenance on state lands in the Cook Inlet region of Alaska.” The permit covers state land and waters between the Trading Bay Production Facility and the Monopod Platform outside the boundary of the Trading Bay unit. The division said the project includes some 750 acres from the shoreline to intersection with the company’s existing right of way. The permit is effective through the end of November.
Hilcorp is proposing to replace some 4,100 feet of existing 8-inch oil pipeline beginning at the Monopod Platform “to address an anomaly detected during in-line pipe inspection” with the work expected to be completed during the 2021 ice-free season.
Other facilities work at the Monopod Platform includes completion of ongoing quarters replacement (see story in May 23 issue of PN).
Pipe pulled from beach The division said new pipe sections will be pulled from the beach at the TBPF to the tie-in point on the existing infrastructure using tugboats, with sub-sea pipe sections, each some 1,025 feet, to be connected by divers and other support personnel.
There will be temporary pilings near the shore to help guide the pipe during pulling, with a Cat 400 excavator driving eleven 7-inch diameter pilings at 50-foot intervals, perpendicular to shore and extending some 500 feet into state tidelands. The division said the pilings would help mitigate nearshore water currents and tidal fluctuations and prevent pipe from drifting outside the tow path.
The Monopod is the most northerly of the Trading Bay platforms.
In a May 12 approval of an amendment to Hilcorp’s plan of operations, the division said the section of pipeline to be replaced will be “de-inventoried, and the entire pipeline will be flushed, and appropriately cleaned as part of the replacement activities prior to cutting or disconnecting sub-sea piping” with the replaced section to be abandoned in place.
- KRISTEN NELSON
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